HYDERABAD: Almost 16 years after the case was registered, a CBI special court at Hyderabad convicted and sentenced BJP leader and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others to seven years imprisonment in the Obulapuram Mining Company illegal mining case.
The court also acquitted Sabitha Indra Reddy, the then-minister for mines, and former IAS officer B Kripanandam in the case. Soon after the CBI court pronounced its verdict, the CBI took the four convicts into custody.
The four convicts — Janardhan Reddy, his brother-in-law BV Srinivas Reddy, the managing director of the OMC and prime accused in the case, the then director of Mines department VD Rajagopal and the former minister’s PA Mehfuz Ali Khan — were fined Rs 10,000 each while the OMC was fined Rs 1 lakh.
Justice has finally prevailed in OMC case, says Sabitha
Janardhan Reddy was arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011 and released on bail by the Supreme Court on January 20, 2015, after spending nearly three and a half years in prison.
The CBI had named eight persons, as well as the OMC, as accused in the case. Lingareddy, A-5 in the case, died during the trial. Senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi, who was arrested and released later, was discharged in the case by the High Court in November 2022.
The CBI arrested Janardhan Reddy and Srinivas Reddy on September 5, 2011 for illegal mining and export of iron ore from Ballari in Karnataka and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.
The scam came to light during the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Soon after YSR’s death, the then-chief minister K Rosaiah recommended a CBI probe into the allegations of rampant illegal mining in 2009.
The then Congress government filed a complaint with the CBI on December 7, 2009, alleging that OMC was carrying out illegal mining in violation of rules. The complaint said that the company mined 29.30 lakh tonnes of iron ore beyond the permitted area of 68.5 hectares.
Cases under relevant Sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act were registered against the accused. The CBI filed a chargesheet in 2011 alleging that the loss to the exchequer due to the illegal mining was `884.13 crore.
The CBI court , which examined 219 witnesses and 3,400 documents, reserved its verdict last month.
“Justice has prevailed. My political rivals linked me with the illegal mining case and levelled wild allegations against me. But, the people of my constituency reposed faith in me and elected me,” said Indra Reddy after the verdict.
Unearthing the case
The accused
A-1 BV Srinivas Reddy (OMC MD, convicted)
A-2 Gali Janardhan Reddy (BJP leader and former minister, convicted)
A-3 VD Rajagopal (ex-IAS officer, who served as director of Mines, and V-C and MD, AP Mineral Development Corporation, convicted)
A-4 Obulapuram Mining Company Pvt Ltd (Convicted)
A-5 Rao Lingareddy (ex- AD of the Mines dept, deceased)
A-6 Srilakshmi (IAS officer, discharge petition allowed by the HC)
A-7 Mehfuz Ali Khan (Janardhan’s PA, convicted)
A-8 B Kripanandam (ex-IAS, acquitted)
A-9 P Sabitha Indra Reddy (former minister, acquitted)
The nitty gritty
The charges included illegally mining iron ore worth Rs 884.13 cr
CBI filed a case in 2009 on the complaint of the then Congress govt
Chargesheet filed against nine accused in 2011
Lingareddy died while the case was under investigation
IAS officer Srilakshmi’s discharge petition allowed